Read configuration information from secret settings

[jrconlin]

The fact that Fenix requires custom builds in order to test non production hosts is unsustainable. The combination of services, run environments, and interactions may have dozens or hundreds of potential configurations. Asking Service Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Quality Assurance (QA) to compile a custom version of fenix for any of these configurations (including staying abreast of all the compilation environment changes) is an unweildy burden. In addition, not being able to specify server impacts Mozilla’s ability to ensure user choice. Fenix should allow for easy modification of these values so that running a test setup requires minimal configuration changes of an existing application. Based on the impact of this on the operational efficiency of other teams, this should be made a priority.

Tracking with CONSVC Jira ticket

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[jonalmeida]

Moving this to Fenix because we can do this UI work there instead of components.

[jonalmeida]

about:config isn't any option on mobile because this configuration does not come from Gecko land. We can do something similar to how we set custom Sync Server behind a Secret Settings UI.

[jrconlin]

Ah, then we might want to remove about:config, or at least the change the values in about:config to indicate that you set them differently. Otherwise we're just confusing people, particularly those with either previous experience with older products, or using documentation created from those older products.

[jonalmeida]

That's definitely something we can do in GeckoView land, I think.

EDIT: GeckoView bug filed here - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1769983

[jonalmeida]

Assigning this to Ben since they're going to work on this. :)

[bendk]

I have some code that I believe is successfully changing the push server URL. However I still need to manually do some extra work to make things work when running a preview build:

• Downloading the staging server keys and moving them to app/src/debug/res/values/fenix_firebase.xml
• Disabling strict mode

It seems like as long as this is still needed, it's going to be a burden for QA. What's the best way to eliminate theses steps?

Also, I'm not sure how to best verify that the sent tab is indeed going through the staging server. I added some logging in RustPushConnection from AutoPushFeature and have verified that serverHost is indeed the staging host. Is that good enough verification or is there a better way?

[jonalmeida]

• Downloading the staging server keys and moving them to app/src/debug/res/values/fenix_firebase.xml
• Disabling strict mode

We can consider landing this file in the repository. The reason we haven't is because we need to fix the strict mode warning here.

If the strict mode is fixed, then only the config in the UI is the only required change.

Also, I'm not sure how to best verify that the sent tab is indeed going through the staging server. I added some logging in RustPushConnection from AutoPushFeature and have verified that serverHost is indeed the staging host. Is that good enough verification or is there a better way?

You could monitor the network tab in about:debugging while the tab is coming in and see if it's from the staging server.

[LaurentiuApahideanSV]

I tested the issue on Fenix Nightly 106.0a1 (2022-09-05) an the option to use custom servers is present in the settings menu.

Devices used:

• OnePlus 6T (Android 9)
• Google Pixel 6 (Android 13)

[jrconlin]

Thank You All!